1991 Diamond back Apex

Bought this from a forum member (thanks XTSTIMAN!) back end of last year. Haven't had chance to do much with it, yet, there's a few more things I want sorting out.

In fairness, it was in pretty good condition. There's a few cosmetic things with the frame, but I'll just touch them up, because I'd prefer to keep the original paintjob.

One of these was my first true mtb, that I bought new, had it stolen in 95, so was truly nice to get another chance at one. This one is a size bigger than the one I had, BITD. (19, my original was an 18, I think...)

Riding it recently has reminded exactly what it was like, BITD - the same feel, very direct. One of my most vivid memories is riding my Apex back from the bike shop, after buying it, and the Smokes buzzing on the road like a Land Rover.



Need to sort out this kludge for the canti cable hanger...


Decorated by palm ;-)

All original DX mechs, shifters, levers and cantis. Same for hubs and wheels (DX hubs, Sun / Avenir Duro 17 rims). Chainset has been swapped out for a Deore LX one from that period. Tioga Surefoot VI pedals. Deore DX seatpin. WTB saddle. Zoom stem, Bonty Titec handlebars. Original DB grips ;-)

I was going to put on the original Smokes, but had a bit of a snafu with one of the new inner tubes going on, so didn't want to waste one, messing around with tyres for photos ;-) Tyres that are on are Michelin Country Rock.

I have some NOS XT STI units from this era, which I was thinking of putting on, but these are in great condition and work so well, so I'm going to use them on a 95 Apex frame I recently acquired.

My main 95 Apex is in nice condition, so I'll endeavour to get it cleaned up and post some photos, it'll probably be a while until my second 95 Apex is ready. The 91 version feels a tad heavier than the 95, but still rides so well.

Still to do:-

Replace BB
New Cassette to go on
New chain to go on
Maybe put on some biopace rings ;-)

Sort out the badness with the canti hanger at the front, I have some spares, but it seems there all for Aheadset stem / steerers, and are slightly too big for this stem. So if anyone has a plain alloy / silver canti stem hanger for 1 1/8 quill stem, let me know, I may be interested...

Looks great , are the original Smokes skinwalls ?, a pair of skinwalls would set the bike off and look ace

Hi Neil,

Looks great , I will be putting some Tioga skin walls on mine for mayhem as mine has blackwall's on for normal riding, will post a pic when I do.

I have a NOS Tioga T-Bone , Your for a tenner, will sort your canti hanger out nicely as DB intended

Cheers

GM

jimihendrix":2vbiotwc said:

Looks great , are the original Smokes skinwalls ?, a pair of skinwalls would set the bike off and look ace

Click to expand...

Yup, they are.

These are they from the brochure pic...

Also got some skinwall Psycho Ks which were on this Apex (and originally on my 95 Apex) for a while before I put these Michelins on.

Gravy Monster":1drkqs7e said:

Hi Neil,

Looks great , I will be putting some Tioga skin walls on mine for mayhem as mine has blackwall's on for normal riding, will post a pic when I do.

I have a NOS Tioga T-Bone , Your for a tenner, will sort your canti hanger out nicely as DB intended

Cheers

GM

Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer - but I've got two T-Bones - one that came with this Apex, and one that was on my original.

I liked the look of the Zoom one to go with the DX seatpin ;-)

It's a funny thing about the seatpins that came with these 91 Apex - branded as Avenir thin wall 4130 chomoly, but at the bottom of the seatpin, they're stamped by Kalloy (although they actually are thin wall chomoly). I've got a Kalloy Uno seatpin, too, that is alloy and you can see the difference in material and thickness.

PS: I'm ever-hopeful about building that rim you karma'd me (many thanks!) on a DX 32 hole rear hub, to go with the spare front DX / Duro 7 wheel (from my original 91 Apex) to go for the build of my 2nd 95 Apex.

nice

i'm picking up my 1991 apex tomorrow - it's the black alternate colourway

will be building mine SS

Re:

8 years later but I got the same bike some weeks ago!

I wonder what it looks like now? Been a while